It's been more than 80 years since former Second World War Spitfire pilot Ken Raven was last at the controls of a Harvard Mark II trainer, though you wouldn't know it by the way he flew Thursday ...

One of the last surviving ... pilots and was one of the first six successful candidates to be accepted with no or little previous flying experience, historian Sally McGlone said. Grace Spitfire ...

While she was commonly known as the last-surviving female pilot from the war ... birthday - held at the airport - Mrs Ellis said the Spitfire had always been her favourite aircraft.